Water distributor for condensers



Oct. 2o, 1925.A 1,557,838

N. H. HILLER WATER DISTRIBUTOR FOR CONDENSERS Filed lay l, 1925 ff @i1/ J ALM v 'INVENToR s l f BY ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 20, 1925.

UNITED STATES NICLAI E, HILLER, 0F CARBONDALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

WATER DISTRIBUTOR FOR CONDENSERS.

Application med May 1, 1925. Serial No. 27,130.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, NICoLAr H. HILLR, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Carbondale, in the 'county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania,.have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water Distributors for Condensers, of which the following is a specification. i

`This invention is an improvementin that type of condenser in which a cooling liquid is delivered to and permitted to flow down through tubes traversing the space or chamber containing the fluid to be cooled, and relates more particularly to the means employed for distributing the cooling water supply and controlling the flow thereof to the tubes'.

In its preferred form, my invention isan improvement on the construction shown and claimed in my prior Patent Number 1,522,366, issued January 6, 1925. As one'l feature of the construction there shown, the tubular distributors which are inserted in the upper ends of the condenser tubes have The main object of my present invention is to further regulate and control the distribution of the water or other cooling liquid so that the head of water and therefore the water pressure at the several distributors or controlling elements will be the same, and whereby the cooling effect will be rendered more uniform throughout the apparatus. In condensers of the type in which there area plurality of vertical -cooling tubesfwithin a cylindrical shell, the innermost tubes are ordinarily farthest from the source of water supply and extend through the point where 4the need for. cooling effect is the greatest. As one important feature of my invention I secure the desired uniform water pressure and the desired cooling effect at the center o f the condenser by 0 varying the cross sectional area of the iow passages into the condenser tubes in accordance with the distance ofsaid tubes from the source of water supply. As another im'- portant feature,.I deliver the water preferably tangentially to an outer -annular chamber from which it may flow inward radlally at a large number of points distributed about the circumference so that there will be uniform flow inward radially toward the center from all sides. y y In the accompanying drawing, I have illustrated oney embodiment of my invention which has proved very satisfactory in cornmercial use. Obviously other forms might 4be designed within the spirit of my invention without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

In'the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a condenser having a Water distributing apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention,

Figure 2 is a vertical section of a portion of the upper part thereof on a'larger scale, Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the water distributing tubes and Figure 4 is a plan view' of four tubes showing variation in the cross section of the flow'passages to the tubes.

I have illustrated my invention in connectionwvith a condenser having a cylindrical shell 10 provided with a'flange 11 riveted to a head or tube sheet `12. .Extending through the tube sheet and through the space or chamber of the condenser are a plurality of cooling tubes 13.

The head or; tube sheet 12 is of larger diameter than the shell 10 and serves to support an annular wall 14; which, in connection with the head, forms a copling water supply chamber 15 from which the Water ma be delivered to the several tubes 13.

lithin the upper end of each tube, I provide a distributing member 16 which may be constructed substantially as shown in my prior patent above referred to. As shown, each distributor has a lower portion l 17 vadapted to loosely fit within the upper end l ,553,338 lP'iiTl-TQT l OFFICE.

lead in a helical direction through the flange 18 and the outer surface of the lower [mrt 17 so that the water may flow from the chamber 15 through these passa s to the inner surfaceof the condenser tu e and be distributed in a downward and tangential direction so as to .more effectively insure Athe complete covering ofthe inner ysurface of the tube by cooling water. Each member 16 is hollow so that the central passage, which is open at the top, may serve as an over flow outlet and the upper portion of each mem- Ujber 16- is of materially smaller diameter f'fgthan the corresponding condenser tube so that there will be the maximum space betlgween said upper portions of adjacent members 16, for the flow of water from the ource of supply to the tube farthest there- I'Om. A

Within the water chamber and outside of the group of members 16, I provide an annular wall 20 which may be of approximately the diameter of the shell 10. It may be centered' and located in any suitable manner, as for` instance, by extending int-o a groove in the upper surface of the tube sheet 12. Wall 20 is of less height than the Wall 14 and is provided with an annular row of slots 21 along its entire circumference at the lower edge and through which water may flow from the annular trough outside of this wall to the circular chamber inside. The water is delivered to the annular trough through one or more inlet conduits 22 which preferably have delivery nozzlesextending tagentially so that there will be a flow along the trough and past the several slots 21, and the head of waterl will be maintained substantially uniform at the several slots and at all points around the trough.

The cross sectional area of the water How passages 19 at the tubes nearest the center of the condenser is madel materially greater than the corresponding passages to the tubes nearest the water supply, in -other words nearest to the slots 21 through the wall, 20. Thisl may be accomplished by `making the same number of slots in all of the members 16 vbut making the slots wider in the mem.- bers which are inserted in the tubes nearest the center, or it may be accomplished `by making the slots uniform in size for all of the tubes and varyin the number in accordance with the distance from the source of I water supply. In the specific form illustrated, I vary-the number of slotsand keep the size of the slots uniform, although the other arrangement for maintaining a variation in the cross sectional area -might be employed. The difference between the two extremes of cross section area maybe varied accordingr to the head of water to be maintained, the diameter of the condenser, the size of the assages and various other factors. For instance, the member 16 vwhich goes into the centermost condenser tube and those closely adjacent to it, may have four of the waterdelivery slots 19, the next annular zone mayv have three osuch slots, the

next outer zone two slots, andtheoutermost tubes may have only one. It will ofcourse be understood that this variation from one to four is merely given as an example, for the variation m1ght be' through a wider or above the ends of said passages.

.ing to the portion of the water chamber dinarrower range and the number of passages on even the outer row might be very materially greater.

In my improved construction it will be noted that the inlet ends ofthe passages 19 are above the tube sheet 12 and that the. upper ends of the distributors are above the normal water level in the container. yThus any solid matter which is heavier than the Water will settle and collect on the tube sheet Without clogging the passages 19,- and any solid matter which is lighter than the water ioats to the top, will stay there and remain The passages will thus remain free and clear, and only very' infrequent cleaning is necessary. If the water level be kept above the upper ends of the slots 21, the wall 20 will also serve to prevent any solid matter from floatrectly adjacent to the passages 19. VIt will be noted that any one of the distributors may be very easily removed, cleaned and replaced without interfering with the operation of the condenser or necessitating the re-v moval of any other distributor. Having thus describedmy invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A Vertical tube condenser having an V .upper tube. sheet, a plurality of tubes projecting'downwardly therefrom, a wall coacting with the tube sheet to form a container for cooling liquid above the tube sheet, said condenser being provided. with a plurality of distributors within said container, each distributor havingv a` passage for the flow of water from said container to the 'interior of the corresponding tube, the cross sectional area of the passages of said distributors varying in accordance with .the distance from the water inlet of said container. l

2. The combination with a vertical tube condenser having a cylindrical shell, an up- 'Ilo per tube sheet, a plurality of tubes projecting from said tube sheet through said shell, and a wall coacting with the tube sheet to form avcontainer for cooling water above the tube sheet and a plurality ofl distribu- Y tors within said container, each registering with a corresponding tube and veach having a water How passage from the lower portion .of said chamber to the interior of the tube,

the cross sectional area of the passages of 120.

the distributors nearest to the center' of" the condenser being greater than the area of -the passages of the distributors nearest to the periphery of the condenser.l

f 3. The combination with a vertical tube 1254- vcondenser having` a cylindrical shell, an up' sages than have the distributors nearer to the periphery of the condensers.

4. A vertical tube condenser having an upper tube sheet, a plurality of tubes projecting downwardly therefrom, an outer Wall coacting withthe tube sheet, a container for cooling liquid above the tube sheet, an

space encircled by annular wall within said container, and spaced inwardly Ifrom saidA outer wall to form with the latter an outer trough, said inner wall having openings therethrough along the length thereof adjacent to the tube sheet, a plurality of distributors within the said inner wall and each communicatlng with its corresponding condenser tube and each having a passage for the flow of water from *the lower portion of said water chamber to the interior of the condenser tube, the cross sectional area of the passages of the Several distributors increasingr as the distance of said distributors increaseslfrom said innerwall.

5. A vertical tube condenser having an uppertube sheet, a plurality of tubes projecting downwardly therefrom, an outer wall coacting with the tube sheet to form a container. for rcooling liquid above the tube sheet, an annular wall within said container,

andspaced inwardly from said 'outer wall to form with the latter an outer trough, said inner wall having openings therethrough lalong the length thereof adjacent to the tube sheet, means for delivering cooling Water to said trough in a substantially tangential direction past said openings, a plurality of distributors within the space encircled by said inner wall and each communicating with its corresponding condenser tube and each having a passage for the flow of water A from the lower portion of said water cham'- ber to the interior of thecondenser tube, the cross sectional area of the passages of the several distributors increasing as the distance of Said distributors increases from said inner annular wall.

6. A vertical tube condenser having an upper tube sheet, a plurality di tubes projecting downwardly therefrom, an outer wallcoacting with the tube sheet to form a container for cooling liquid above thel tube sheet, an annular wall within said container, and spaced inwardly from said outer wall to form with the latter an outer trough, said inner wall having openings therethrough along` the length thereof adjacent to the tube sheet, means for delivering cooling water to said trough in a substantially tangential direction past said openings, and .a plurality of distributors within the space encircled by said inner wall and each co-mmunicating with its corresponding condenser tube, and each having a passage for the flow of water from the lower portion of said water chamber to-the interior'of the condenser` tube.

Signed at Carbondale, in the county of Lackawanna andState of Penna. thisl 29th day of April A. D. 1925. I

f yNICOLAI H. HILLER. 

